Westminster Confession of Faith

Years ago I attended a seminar promoting a new study Bible with notes aimed at fostering deeper relationships. At a break, I asked the author of the notes why basic theological points were so conspicuously absent. “Oh,” he replied, “that’s because doctrine divides, and we don’t want to divide...

This week on Theology on the Go, our host, Dr. Jonathan Master is joined by the Rev. Dr. Peter Lillback (PhD, Westminster Theological Seminary). Dr. Lillback is president and professor of historical theology and church history at Westminster Theological Seminary. He also serves as the president of...

My seminary professor of missions emphasized what is often glossed over when discussing and doing mission work: the Bible not only presents a message but a method of its delivery. [1] Similarly, the Bible has its own method of apologetics (self-defense) to which we must defer: it presents itself as...

“Although the light of nature and the works of creation and providence do so far manifest the goodness, wisdom, and power of God, as to leave men un-excusable; yet are they not sufficient to give that knowledge of God and of His will, which is necessary unto salvation. Therefore it pleased the LORD...

Do you ever wonder how the Westminster divines would defend the Christian faith? I happen to believe that the apologetic method most consistent with the Westminster Confession of Faith (as well as the Larger and Shorter Catechisms) is what is called covenantal apologetics or what has been called...

This week on Theology on the Go, our host, Dr. Jonathan Master is joined by the Rev. Dr. K. Scott Oliphint, professor of apologetics and systematic theology at Westminster Theological Seminary, for a discussion on Confession and Apologetics. Dr. Oliphint’s academic interests include Cornelius Van...

In the late 1890’s B. B. Warfield, along with several other men, wrote against “the impatience . . . with the effort to define truth and to state with precision the doctrinal presuppositions and contents of Christianity.” [1] Such impatience was possessed by many who confessed to be Christians,...

Ministering in a small, rural town with over ten churches, all with relatively low attendance, I have often heard the question, “What makes your church different?” I have found this question difficult to answer, not because I couldn’t rattle off positions and practices that other churches in town...

Just as bottles of distilled water offer drink that is free of poisonous chemicals and clogging minerals, so the Church’s confessions provide boiled-down, condensed, purified orthodoxy for healthy Body life systems. For instance, a seminary student being examined on the floor of Presbytery with...

In today’s church, there are a number of significant questions about the doctrine of assurance. Some argue that you cannot ever really know if you’re saved at all; others insist that if you made some kind of profession of faith, then you ought never to doubt the reality of your salvation. The...